Chapter 6 - The Hunted Becomes the Bait
Within forty-eight hours, the city was locked down. Julian Sterling’s face was plastered across every news channel, digital billboard, and police scanner from coast to coast. The attempted arson and assassination attempt at Aurelia Systems headquarters transformed him overnight from a disgraced corporate executive into America's most wanted fugitive.
I sat in the command center that Arthur Vance had hastily set up in the basement sublevel of the skyscraper. Dozens of high-resolution monitors flickered with live feeds from private security drones, traffic cameras, and police scanners.
"We have a confirmed ping," one of the elite private investigators I had hired whispered, pointing to a blinking red dot on a map of the city’s industrial shipping docks. "A burner phone registered to an alias used by Julian just pinged off a cell tower near Pier 42. He’s trying to secure passage on an international cargo freighter headed to South America."
I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands, studying the grainy infrared footage of a shadowy figure skulking among rusted shipping containers near the dark, churning waters of the harbor.
"Is the Coast Guard notified?" I asked.
"Quietly, yes," the investigator replied. "But Madam Chairwoman... the harbor police are still fifteen minutes out. If we send in local law enforcement now, he might slip away into the labyrinth of cargo crates."
I stood up slowly, smoothing the wrinkles from my charcoal-gray pantsuit. I picked up a heavy tactical radio from the console.
"Then we don't wait for the police," I said calmly.
Arthur gasped, stepping forward to block my path. "Nora, have you lost your mind? You cannot go down there! That man is desperate, cornered, and clearly insane. Let the professionals handle him!"
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"No, Arthur," I said, looking him dead in the eye with a gaze so cold it made him step back. "Julian humiliated me in public for five years. He stole my ideas, he treated me like dirt, and then he tried to burn me alive. This isn't a police matter anymore. This is personal. I am going to be the last face he sees before his entire world collapses for good."
Before Arthur could utter another word, I turned on my heel, walked out of the command center, and climbed into the back of a waiting armored SUV with a handpicked team of four elite private security operatives.
